


pull you in to feel your heartbeat

by hollyhobbit101



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [15]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Hospitalization, Hurt TK Strand, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Worried Carlos Reyes (9-1-1 Lone Star), stab wounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:13:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28924128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollyhobbit101/pseuds/hollyhobbit101
Summary: The call comes at the tail end of Carlos’s shift, and he instantly hates whichever idiot decided to ruin his night by mugging someone.What he's not expecting is to find his boyfriend on the ground, bleeding out from a stab wound.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1691701
Comments: 18
Kudos: 240
Collections: Carlos Reyes Week 2021





	pull you in to feel your heartbeat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brilliantbanshee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brilliantbanshee/gifts).



> bad things happen bingo prompt: bleeding through the bandages
> 
> carlos reyes week day 5: "just, hold on" + hurt/comfort
> 
> [@marjansmarwani](https://marjansmarwani.tumblr.com/) \- Could I request bleeding through the bandages for TK??
> 
> title from hold on by chord overstreet

The call comes at the tail end of Carlos’s shift, and he instantly hates whichever idiot decided to ruin his night by mugging someone. It’s in one of the seedier areas of town and apparently there’s at least one casualty; things always get messy in this particular area, so Carlos just  _ knows  _ he’s going to be pulling overtime tonight.

It’s fucking inconsiderate, really.

He and his partner share a look as they pull up, the crowd surrounding the victim visible even in the dark. Medical hasn't arrived yet, so it’s up to them to deal with both the mugger and the injury. Which - just great. 

Carlos sighs and gets out, trepidation growing as they get closer. He keeps his hand on his holster but doesn’t draw his gun; people down here don’t tend to be too friendly to cops and he doesn’t want to provoke them any more. To his left, Rachel is doing the same, the corners of her mouth pinched tight. 

A woman runs up to them, phone in hand and eyes wide with shock. The witness, Carlos presumes. 

“Officers, thank you for getting here so quickly; oh, it’s just awful, isn’t it, I still can’t really understand it -”

“Ma’am.” Carlos holds up a calming hand and she stops mid-rant, breathing hard. He signals to his partner to check on the victim before turning back to the witness. “Let’s all keep calm, okay? Can you tell me your name?”

“Caroline.”

“Okay, Caroline, can you tell me what happened?”

Caroline’s lips tremble, and for a second Carlos worries she’s going to launch into another incomprehensible stream of words. But she appears to steel herself, taking a deep breath before nodding. “That poor man was just running when someone came up to him - and normally I don’t pay attention to these things, Officer, but there was something not right about the other man. Anyway, I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it didn’t look too friendly and then,  _ oh _ it was terrible, he - that poor man over there - moved and the other one just -  _ stabbed _ him!”

Carlos pushes away a grimace, trying for a reassuring smile. “Could you see what the attacker looked like?”

“No, it was too dark, you see. But he did run off that way” - she points to Carlos’s right - “into those trees over there.”

“Thank you, that’s really helpful.” Carlos relays the information through his radio, then goes to meet Rachel. As long as medical isn’t here, they’re going to have to stay and make sure the victim lives long enough to make it to hospital.

There’s a gap in the crowd, and through it Carlos can see Rachel bent over a body on the ground. She spots him before he gets to her and immediately her face drops, eyes darting between him and the victim.

“Carlos, don’t come any closer!” she calls.

Carlos stops, frowning. “What?”

Rachel looks close to tears, though she’s clearly trying to maintain an air of professionalism for the onlookers. “Just… Please, Carlos.”

And there’s something in the way she’s looking at him - at the victim - that sends Carlos’s heart plummeting into his shoes. “No,” he whispers, breaking into a run, because it  _ can’t  _ be him, there’s no way the universe could be this cruel, surely -

Except it is. Carlos drops to his knees beside TK and he forgets all about being professional, his one hand reaching up to cup TK’s face while the other presses against his wound, blood already soaking through the makeshift bandages.

Distantly, he hears Rachel begin to manage the crowd, who have suddenly become  _ very  _ interested to know why a police officer is crying over a random jogger. He pays them no mind, though, attention wholly fixed on TK.

“TK,” he says, forcing the words past the lump in his throat. “TK, can you hear me?”

TK breathes sluggishly, his gaze barely meeting Carlos’s before drifting away again. “Carlos,” he breathes. “‘M tired.”

“Hey, no, don’t you dare.” Carlos panics as TK’s eyes begin to slide closed, pressing down harder on his wound. It elicits a gasp from TK which Carlos feels guilty about, but only just - at least he’s still awake. He can hear sirens in the distance, and he prays that they’re the medical team.

“I warned you, didn’t I?” Carlos murmurs. “Once they’ve fixed you up, you’re never getting out of the doghouse for the rest of your life.”

TK almost smiles at that. “If I remember,” he slurs, “that was about getting shot. You d-didn’t say anything ‘bout stabbing.”

“It was implied.”

The medical team finally gets to them and Carlos shifts to make room, though he keeps running his fingers through TK’s hair. One of the paramedics looks like they’re about to tell him to move, but one look at his face must make them reconsider. He keeps talking to TK, desperately trying to keep him awake, but Carlos can see the blood staining his hands and TK’s shirt and the grass and even the fresh bandages the paramedics have put on and -

And, it’s not enough. TK’s eyes slip closed.

“We have to transfer him  _ now _ ,” one of the paramedics says. Then, looking up at Carlos. “Officer, we’re going to have to ask you to move.”

Carlos stares. The paramedic sighs and is about to repeat herself when a hand grips Carlos’s arm. He turns to see Rachel watching him, an unbearably sympathetic look on her face.

“Come on, Carlos,” she says quietly. “He’s in good hands.”

“I can’t -” He shakes his head, wanting nothing more than to stay put, but he knows that every second he delays increases the chance of TK not making it out of this. He presses a kiss to TK’s forehead. “Hold on for me, love,” he murmurs, then allows Rachel to pull him up, using her as a means of staying upright.

He clambers into the ambulance with TK, Rachel telling him it’s all cleared with the sergeant, and stares into his pale face, hoping against hope that he’ll wake up again.

“Hold on.”

* * *

Hours later, he’s still in his uniform, having rebuffed all attempts to make him go home. The most he agreed to was washing the blood off his hands, but even then the fear was still present.

Fear that TK would wake up without him, yes, but most off all, fear that he would die, and Carlos wouldn’t have been there.

The 126 have been coming and going, the only constant besides Carlos, Owen. He’s sitting on TK’s other side, the harsh hospital lighting throwing his face into sharp relief. He looks old - older than Carlos has ever seen him, except for perhaps the last time they were in this situation.

Carlos refuses to think about that time. It had taken days for TK to wake up then; Carlos isn’t sure he could handle that this time.

He doesn’t know how long it’s been. All he knows is that he hasn’t slept, and TK hasn’t woken up. Owen’s drifted off a couple of times, every time startling awake only to look even sadder when he realises TK’s still asleep.

But, eventually, when even Carlos can feel sleep pulling at him, TK twitches. Carlos blinks, half-certain he imagined it, but, no, Owen’s alert too, both of them rising from their seats.

“TK?” Carlos says, daring to let a little hope into his voice.

There’s an agonising silence which feels like it lasts minutes, and then TK moves again, his eyes slowly blinking open. Carlos sags in relief, sitting down heavily in the chair.

“Oh, god,” he chokes out, grabbing TK’s hand and kissing his knuckles. TK’s gaze slowly focuses on Carlos’s face and a smile creeps onto his face.

“Thought I was in the doghouse,” he manages, his voice weak but still, somehow, teasing.

Carlos laughs wetly. “It’s under review,” he responds, but they both know it’s an empty threat. 

Carlos is never letting TK out of his sight again.

**Author's Note:**

> i am accepting prompts on tumblr @morganaspendragonss!


End file.
